Level Shifts: Down to the Floor and Up Without Hands

A warm-up built on transitions between high, middle and low levels using rolls, spirals and safe weight-bearing. It prepares the joints for floor work and opens up vertical space for composition.

How to play

1. Wrist, knee and spine mobility on the spot (2 min).
2. Go down to the floor in 8 counts and come up in 8 counts by a different route each time, hands allowed (3 min).
3. Spiral: go down turning on one foot and land on the side of the hip; come up through the same spiral (3 min).
4. Challenge: link high-middle-low-middle-high in 16 counts, finishing with a no-hands or one-hand rise (3 min).

Rules

• Work on a mat or a clean gym floor.
• Never drop onto knees, elbows or head: weight goes through soft areas (outer thigh, hip, back).
• If anything hurts, use the hands version.
• One person per mat when going down.

Variations

Adaptations

• Limited mobility: work the three levels from the chair (lean, lengthen, curl) and set the rhythm for the group.
• Knee injury: skip kneeling and go down through the hip using the hands.
• Anxious students: practice next to the wall first and set their own pace.

Learning goals

• Mobilize wrists, knees and spine.
• Get to and from the floor safely and with control.
• Add levels as a composition tool.

Equipment for a class of 25

• mats: 15

Teacher tip

Short on mats? Run it in two shifts. Students tend to drop the last bit of the descent: ask for a silent landing.

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